A new Disney flying theater patent application describes a ride that loads guests on a flat platform, then swings the whole cabin upright to face a screen. The application, titled “Flying Theater Ride,” was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on October 29, and Blog Mickey spotted it the same day.
Disney Enterprises filed it on April 25, 2025, with James Durand and Stephen Brooks Rowe listed as the inventors. As is common with patent filings, it does not name a park or an attraction, so there is no promise that this exact system will ever be built. What it does show is a different take on the ride type Disney already runs as Soarin’.
Loading Flat, Then Flying Upright
The big change is how guests get on. The cabin sits level while everyone loads, with brakes and the actuators locking it in place. The filing says that layout could speed up loading and unloading, get more guests through each day and make the ride easier for guests who use a wheelchair, cane, crutches or other assistive devices.
Once the cabin is full, a rotating hub turns it about 90 degrees toward vertical so riders face the display. The seats pivot as the cabin turns, keeping guests sitting upright the whole time, and the filing says that can be done with a powered mechanism or with weighted seats that swing on their own. A counterweight is also built in to bring the cabin back down to the loading position in the event of a malfunction.
What The Ride Would Feel Like
After the cabin locks into its show position, a set of linked arms and actuators takes over the motion. It can lift riders, drop them and tilt them forward and back in time with the film, which the filing says can give riders a sensation of flying.
The example in the filing is a canoe trip. The film shows a first-person view of paddling, and when the canoe goes over a waterfall, the cabin tips riders forward.
The screen itself could be a projection screen or a large LED, LCD or plasma display.
A Design On Paper For Now
The drawings in the application range from a small version with a few rows to a much larger one with several long rows of seats. This is a published application, not a granted patent, and Disney has not announced a ride tied to it.
As with the earlier Disney application we covered for projecting a second show onto fireworks smoke, this one comes with no park plans attached. For now, this flying theater is a design on paper.
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